| Christian Life and Doctrine | June 1949 |
Following the Master
“Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” —Matthew 19:21
AN INDISPENSABLE requirement in the life of one who consecrates to follow the Master is a vital relationship to the mind of God—a relationship which establishes and maintains the strongest possible communion with the great source of spiritual power. This will necessitate insulation from the world, from its false lures of ambition and wealth and fame. The man of God will say with the apostle: “This one thing I do. … I press toward the mark.” (Phil. 3:13,14) The most potent of all testimonies is that of example. The Christian’s affections should be set on things above; he should have only one mind, the mind of Christ. (Col. 3:1,2; Phil. 2:5) His attitude should enable him to say, not “Go on,” but “Come on,” or, in apostolic phraseology, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” (I Cor. 11:1) Primarily, fundamentally, indefatigably, he should be Christ’s man, a fearless ambassador of the King of kings.
He who would follow the Master must have a vision. In Ezekiel 13:3 we find a reference to prophets who “have seen nothing.” The Prophet Isaiah received a vision of the future. Beholding the glory of God in that power which he is yet to reveal to all, he could say, “Here am I, send me,” because in pictorial representation he had seen the fulfillment of the great eternal purpose, the consummation of the program of the centuries, the inauguration of a dynasty that should send to the eternal skies the glories of its newborn righteousness and truth and love; a regime long delayed indeed, but borne hitherward on the wings of those gold-hued biblical promises which cannot fail.—Isa. 6:8
Spiritual Discernment
An important question is, Have we caught Isaiah’s vision, Abraham’s vision, Ezekiel’s vision, Paul’s vision—all picturing an era when God shall make all things new by marvelous secrets of life opened up, and by biblical instruction enlightening the mind, accomplishing the desideratum of an everlasting fraternity of men, a world-wide community of love? Have we caught a vision of the channel God will employ to perform his work? Have we seen that this channel is the great secret of the Bible, that it is the “Seed” of Abraham, long foretold by the prophets, and that its one and only head is our risen, exalted Lord? Do we realize that we may be of this channel and may thus confer the greatest conceivable boon on suffering humanity? If so, God has sent us a degree of truth that has come to but few, and we have cause for joy indeed; for we know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in those that follow the Master faithfully unto the end.
The Christian should have great compassion on mankind in their sorrows and sufferings. He should have a broad outlook and see humanity as it is, for this will most accurately show him its needs. What does he want to do for the more than two billion souls on this planet? They are needful souls indeed! Regarding the Master, we are told that he pitied the multitude, for they were as sheep not having a shepherd. Therefore, as Jesus felt the burden of the world’s woes, so should his servants grow in love and understanding, and each will continue praying the prayer of prayers, “Thy kingdom come,” and will also endeavor to be an exemplar of the righteousness of that kingdom in his daily life.
Should the Christian be an economist? Yes, he should. In the divine economy nothing is lost in the lives of those who are faithful. Every tear, every pang that rends the heart, is for a purpose. Some day the broken threads of life will be gathered up and spun to a conclusion, woven into a tissue of matchless beauty, and then will appear the final result of all present experiences. Figuratively speaking, the Christian should see that God gathers the tears of his saints and fashions them into garlands of pearls to be preserved throughout eternity; then shall he indeed have comfort for sorrowing hearts about him, even “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”—Isa. 61:3
He who follows the Master is an empire man in the highest sense, recognizing God as the only true empire builder, who raiseth up and setteth down, and alone can say to a kingdom, “Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.” He sees in present institutions a temporary arrangement, to afford the world an experience calculated to be for lasting good, and to give place to a universal dynasty where love shall be the king law. His hope is centered in the promises of God, and in the mighty consummation of the program of all the ages.
Problems for Us All
Today, we see that mighty, irresistible, transforming forces are at work, and the world really stands at the birth of a new era, to be fully ushered in after the birth pangs of the approaching time of trouble.
Never, since man was created, have such questions arisen as confront the world today. All these the Christian should meet and deal with from the viewpoint of his text book, the Word of God. While thus he catches the true light and lets it shine, he can be assured that others will see his good works and glorify their Father which is in heaven—in due time.
He who follows the Master puts truth first. It is his great, guiding star of life. He never subordinates it to anything else. It is his most sacred possession; for is not love itself a part of truth? Therefore he studies the Bible, not to teach the Bible, not to read into it products. of his own imagination, not to pervert it and bring portions of the Scriptures into line with some pleasing theory or other; but he studies the Bible to find out what it has to say. His attitude toward it is truly humble and reverential. Before its mighty verities he feels as a little child. Often he prays for wisdom, and offers this beautiful prayer: “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art the God of my salvation.”—Psalm 25:5
Allurements for the Unwary
The disciple of Jesus realizes how important is the exhortation of the apostle: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” Not all at once does the Christian’s wily foe get in his work, but gradually he lures his feet into forbidden paths. But always he masks it in the guise of truth; always he pretends to be the servant of God. His constant method is to figure as an angel of light. As a fisherman, he uses bait. “New light” is one of his lures. He dangles this before the face of his intended victim. Well he knows its powerful appeal. Thus stealthily he draws the gaze to some other head than the true Head, to some other channel than the Word of the living God; and lo, the “fish” is caught.
Before the Christian started to follow Jesus along the course of discipleship, the Master said to him, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. … So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”—Luke 14:27-33
Because of the admonition contained in the foregoing statement as well as in other portions of the Scriptures, the Christian is quite aware of the fact that the way before him is to be no easy one. To sacrifice all that he had was no easy thing for Jesus, nor was it easy for the apostles, nor has it been easy for anyone who has undertaken to follow the Master—from Pentecost to the present time. Still it is true that the darkness hateth the light and will not come to the light, lest its deeds should be reproved, or discovered. (John 3:20, margin) Still it is apparent that the great Adversary of truth is diligently “seeking whom he may devour.” (I Pet. 5:8) Still it is evident that we “walk by faith,” and not by sight, and that we need to take unto us the “whole armour of God” that we may be able to “withstand in the evil day, and, having done [margin, overcome] all, to stand.”—Eph. 6:13
And to be “able to withstand,” to hold our own, to maintain our position on the solid ground of truth to which we were called, will test our every power of endurance. The prince of darkness knows that certain ones have the truth, and he wants to get it away from them. He will therefore stop at nothing to accomplish his purpose. He will try to instill dissatisfaction and restlessness into the mind. He will suggest our feeding a little bit in this pasture, and a little bit in that. He will throw out his hints that people get rusty when they stick too much to the one thing. Also, he will endeavor to send us abroad into the realms that seem bright with promise, but which will eventually prove to be a delusion and a snare. To be able to hold our ground against all opposition means the possession of great qualities. It means to “endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (II Tim. 2:3) It means a crystallized determination to make good.
Following the Master not only consists of fighting foes within and without, not only of overcoming temptation, not only of keeping our all on the altar, but it also means what the apostle calls, “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” (I Pet. 1:8) Who indeed can sing like the Christian:
“I’m happy, I’m happy. Oh wondrous account!
My joys are triumphant, I stand on the mount.”
Our New Life
To the one who follows the Master, the world around has become transformed as by a magic wand. In fact, the universe is now his Father’s house. Every golden sunset shows his Father’s artistic nature, every stately tree with its verdant canopy of leaves reveals his Father’s love for the beautiful as well as love for those whom he created to live on the earth. The birds trill forth the praises of their Maker. All living things that realize existence rejoice in life, the glorious boon so freely bestowed by God. So, then, as Jesus at times went out into the quiet retreats, the Christian follows him there in the spirit of his mind. He finds resting places here and there, even amid the busy days; for a few seeds of love which he scatters react upon him and cheer his heart.
And then, at the close of the day, he retires from the world and its cares into the sweet sanctuary of rest where the hallowed presence of the Lord casts the golden glory of its radiance into the chambers of his mind, and the veil between him and the unseen world seems very thin, and the angel voices, of divine promise sing to him of conquest and victory and peace along life’s way and at its close. And a wondrous shining ladder reaches far up toward the heavenly steeps, and his face becomes lit with a brightness not of earth; and his stammering tongue can find no words to tell of all the love that fills his raptured being to the full.
The Christian knows that here and there throughout the world a few others are, like himself, trying to follow the Master, and his, heart goes out to them with fervent love. He knows that they have their faults, their weaknesses, their besetments, their trials; but he knows that they have seen “the light that never was on land or sea,” that they have found “the pearl of great price,” that “here they have no continuing city,” but that they “seek one to come.” And so he recognizes them as his true comrades on life’s journey, and daily he prays that God will bless them and uphold them and bring them off more than conquerors by his divine grace and power.
The Christian is keenly alive to the dangers around him. He knows the craftiness of the enemy and he parleys not with him. He says, “It is written, it is written.” He listens to the voice of God. His feet are planted on the divine Word. He is strong with the strength of truth. He is as Mt. Zion which cannot be moved, but abideth forever.
This, then, is the follower of the Master. He has complete consecration to start with, the grace of God to go along with, and a place with Jesus in the kingdom to end with.